Amnesia
by antthetitch
Summary: When an attack by Eggman causes Sonic to lose his memory, Amy decides to use it to her advantage.
1. The attack

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me.

**Amnesia**

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No!"

"Pretty please?"

"AMY, I SAID NO!"

Sonic the Hedgehog found himself running down a narrow quiet country lane on a large hill, trying to evade Amy who, once again, was chasing after him with intentions of trying to get her hero to admit his feelings for her.

"Why… won't… you...marry... me?" Amy gasped, trying to catch her breath and keep up with Sonic at the same time. Many months of chasing Sonic had given Amy a lot of strength in her legs and she was very clever at keeping up with the blue hedgehog as she ducked under some low branches from the many trees next to the lane.

"Because I don't _want_ to marry you Amy, why can't you just accept that?" Sonic replied angrily. He was getting incredibly tired of Amy constantly following him and asking this same question on a daily basis.

"But it's our _destiny!_" Amy protested as Sonic turned a corner, jumping over a thick jagged branch lying across the lane as he did so. Amy, however, did not notice this as her eyes were glued to Sonic's head and she let out a shriek as she tripped over the branch, hitting her face hard against the solid floor.

Sonic suddenly stopped in his tracks, skidding a few feet, having heard Amy's shriek.

"Amy?" Sonic called and doubled back. When he got to her, Amy had picked up the branch and had thrown it as hard as she could over the hill.

"STUPID THING!" she shouted angrily. Sonic skidded to a halt beside her, bending down to look at her with a concerned look on his face.

"Are you oka… _Amy, you're bleeding!_" Sonic exclaimed. Amy's small black nose was indeed bleeding somewhat heavily but she just merely shrugged.

"Oh so _now_ you care," she scoffed. She wiped her nose carelessly with her arm, leaving dark red blood smears under her nose. She sat on the edge of the hill and gazed at two birds that flew over the sun, which was slowly setting.

"What do you mean, _now_ I care? I've always cared about you!" said Sonic, somewhat taken aback by the pink hedgehog's remark.

"Yeah you care about me _so_ much you run a mile every time I'm within your view," Amy replied sarcastically, her arms folded and a dark pout on her facial features.

"I don't _run a mile_ every time I see you; it's just sometimes you creep me out with all this obsession with marriage," Sonic told her simply, his arms now folded much like hers were. Amy gave a little snigger and wiped her bloody nose again.

"I creep you out?"

"Well, look at it from my view; how would _you_ feel if I kept chasing you around and asking you to marry me all the time?" Sonic asked, mild irritation settled onto his facial features.

"I'd love it," Amy replied honestly, grinning, "My hero chasing me and proposing every day, that is every girls dream!"

Sonic merely rolled his eyes in exaggeration and sighed, "Look, just because I don't want to marry you doesn't mean I don't like you."

"Like me? As in _like me_-like me?" Amy asked eagerly, her jade green eyes widening. Sonic could almost see the hearts in the girl's eyes.

"Well, no, not in that way," Sonic admitted quickly, before the pink hedgehog got the wrong idea, "but I like you as a friend!"

Amy sighed and wiped her nose so hard that specks of blood flew from her arm and landed on Sonic's cheek.

"Sorry," she mumbled quickly and began softly wiping the blood off his cheek.

"Hey, you're blushing!" she exclaimed excitedly, almost to the point of squealing. Sonic's cheeks were indeed turning bright red rather quickly.

"Er... it's not... I... um...just...err... well... I... we really need to get your nose sorted," Sonic stammered quickly and quickly got up.

"Aww, so cute!" Amy squealed as she walked beside Sonic. She was quite glad to be walking alongside Sonic rather than chasing after him, especially seeing as it was so quiet and peaceful.

Shortly a loud rumbling sound arrived, echoing from the trees; darkness suddenly loomed over the lane. Amy and Sonic both turned around and saw what looked like the bottom of a giant shoe come thundering down towards them.

Sonic and Amy both dived out of the way as the foot hit the ground with a loud thud. Sonic looked up in awe, the foot belonged to a twenty foot tall solid silver metal robot that was trying to grab him. As he dived out of the way, Amy came out from behind a tall tree and, her bleeding nose forgotten, ran up to the robot and kicked it hard, before letting out a yell of pain as she began hopping madly on one foot.

Meanwhile Sonic had jumped on to a high branch to avoid the robots steel silver fist that was trying to grab him; one look at the robots face told Sonic who it's creator was; it had big blue eyes, razor-sharp teeth and a long ginger moustache.

"EGGMAN!" Sonic exclaimed, before jumping again as the robot made another grab for him.

"C'mon, you have to be faster than that!" he teased as the robot tried to squash him with it's heavy iron shoe. As the robot's foot shook the ground again, Sonic grabbed it's thick shiny leg and pulled at it, causing the robot to trip. There was a huge crash as the robot tumbled to the ground. However it quickly began to stand up again, as it did so, Sonic jumped up and grabbed it round the neck. The robot then rose to full height and began spinning round madly trying to grab Sonic, but as he could not see him he could not grab him. Swinging it's arms madly, Sonic held on for dear life; it was a long drop if he fell, or worse, was thrown. He gulped and looked around, how was he going to get out of this?

On the ground Amy stood at a long distance, biting her nails in apprehension. It was at that moment that she heard a voice coming from above; she looked up and saw Eggman's vehicle, presumably with Eggman inside it.

Eggman gave a hollow laugh, "Perfect Sonic! Right where I want you, now just hang on for a few more seconds!" He then pressed a small yellow button on the console in his cockpit.

Suddenly, the robot began to glow orange, then red, and it began to get brighter. It then quickly exploded with a loud echoing bang and shards of metal came raining down, littering the lane. Amy gave a loud scream and ducked, covering her head with her arms.

After what felt like forever, the metal had stopped raining down. Amy looked up and saw Eggman had vanished.

"SONIC!" she screamed at the top of her voice, running towards the middle of the pile of metal that was once a huge robot. Amy couldn't find Sonic anywhere.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" She screamed in panic. It was at that point that she noticed a small blue figure lying against a tree near the bottom of the hill.

"SONIC!" she squealed and ran as fast as she could down the hill, little specks of blood flying from her nose as she did. When she eventually reached him, she noticed that the blue hedgehog was lying motionless; his eyes were shut but his mouth clearly showed a look of horror. He had a very large bruise on the side of his spiked head.

"Oh Sonic!" Amy cried, standing Sonic up and, holding his arm round her back, began walking him back to Station Square.

**XXX**

Sonic opened his eyes and found himself lying on a bench in the middle of Station Square. Lots of cars were driving past him. He sat up, rubbing his head.

"Must have dozed off," he mumbled to himself slowly. At that moment a young pink hedgehog emerged from around the corner, carrying a plate of what looked like chilidogs.

"Sonic, you're okay!" Amy exclaimed, putting the plate of chilidogs down on the floor and throwing herself into the blue hedgehog's peach arms.

"Sonic?" the blue hedgehog replied blankly, a slight tone of confusion in his voice.

"Well that _is_ your name," said Amy, rolling her eyes, not thinking much of her crush's behaviour.

"Is it?" the cerulean speedster asked uncertainly, starting to sound a little fearful.

"You took a big hit back there Sonic, I'm glad you're okay. Here, I brought you some chilidogs," Amy handed Sonic the food nervously, which he took gratefully.

"Thanks… err… what's your name?" Sonic asked, looking at her blankly.

"Huh, what are you _talking_ about? I'm Amy, you know me, we were attacked by a robot a while ago," Amy replied, incredibly puzzled.

"Were we? I… I don't remember a thing…" Sonic replied, completely confused and even a little frightened.

"You mean you don't know _who_ you are?" Amy asked, concerned and beginning to feel a little bit worried herself.

"No… all I can recall is a horrible pain in my head, but you clearly know me… can you… can you help me?" Sonic asked, looking at her with wide, expectant eyes.

Amy thought for a moment; Sonic didn't know who she was. This was something she could turn to her advantage; it wouldn't be right, but then again, it would mean that she would finally have what she had always wanted.

"Sure. I'll help you Sonic," she replied with a slight grin.


	2. The vanishing hedgehog

**Chapter 2**

"So how do I know you Amy?" Sonic asked curiously as they walked down the sidewalks of Station Square. Amy didn't reply; she was deep in thought, her mind and heart felt like they were in a strong battle.

"_You'll have the boyfriend you've always wanted."_

"_But he's your friend."_

"_It'll be your dream come true."_

"_It's not fair on him."_

"_He's hardly going to date you when he's normal."_

"_He's just had an injury, it's not right."_

"_You love him, so you should be with him."_

"So _how_ do I know you?" Sonic repeated nervously, glancing at her with a lost look in his emerald eyes.

"Well I'm your frien – fiancée!" Amy changed her mind mid sentence, eventually deciding on what she wanted.

"My what?" Sonic asked, not quite catching what she said. His eyes narrowed a little in confusion.

"I'm your fiancée," Amy stated nervously, wondering whether she's doing the right thing. Sonic stopped, suddenly looking terrified.

"YOU'RE MY FIANCÉE!?!" He blurted out loud. "Since when?"

People who were walking nearby heard Sonic's outburst and quickly ran up to the two hedgehogs and began shaking their hands and congratulating them. Sonic was mortified at the sudden appearance of complete strangers who all seemed to know them, but he returned their handshake all the same, ultimately deciding that being polite was the best approach to take. Amy meanwhile was eagerly returning all the handshakes while smiling nervously as people continued congratulating them.

"Congratulations Sonic, you've picked a good girl!" 

"Wow Amy, you're so lucky to finally get _Sonic_!" 

"I am _so_ pleased for you." 

"I am so jealous; I wish Sonic would marry me!"

"Hope you have a happy life together."

It hadn't been long before coincidentally Tails, Knuckles and Shadow appeared at the corner; Knuckles randomly punched things as he passed, Tails carried a small bag and Shadow stomped across the street, arms folded in his typical dark manner. They stopped when they saw the crowd, questioning.

"I wonder what's going over there?" Knuckles asked, trying to see who was in the centre of the crowd.

"Not sure, probably some type of demonstration, maybe someone's trying to sell something or maybe someone's hurt," Tails suggested in deep thought.

"Or maybe Sonic's showing off as usual," Shadow stated in his usual grumpy manner and pointed out Sonic's red gleaming snickers that were just visible through the legs of the crowd.

"HEY SONIC!" Knuckles called, waving his large gloved fist in the air. He and Tails ran up to the crowd eagerly, to which Shadow gave an impatient sigh and followed reluctantly. The people in the crowd slowly parted, making it easier for the three friends to find the blue hedgehog.

"Hi you two what's going on?" Tails asked casually, approaching them with a small grin on his face,

"These two are to be married!" a teenage girl squealed happily as she left the crowd with her mother, holding her hand. Knuckles', Tails' and Shadow's jaws dropped. Sonic merely stood there blankly, totally confused and almost frightened at the previous events while Amy smiled nervously.

Nobody spoke until Sonic whispered, "I presume these three know me," out of the corner of his mouth so only Amy could hear him. Amy gave another nervous giggle.

"Er… maybe we should go home?" Amy replied nervously, tugging on Sonic's peach-furred arm.

"M… m... mar... married!" Tails stammered, totally shocked by the announcement. At that moment Sonic suddenly sat down clutching his hands to his head, moaning in pain.

"Sonic, are you all right!?" Amy almost shrieked, concerned. Tails quickly bent down to help his best friend without a second thought.

"That bruise looks nasty, I have first aid in my workshop, we could go there and sort it," Tails offered, his blue eyes concerned.

"I'm fine," Sonic muttered, standing, rubbing his bruised head carelessly.

"Are you sure? It looks pretty bad," Tails asked in a concerned manner.

"I said I'm fine," Sonic replied impatiently, still clutching the side of his head and wincing.

"Okay if you're sure but I really think we should-"

"I SAID I'M FINE! I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP, WHOEVER YOU ARE!" Sonic snapped loudly. He stormed off round the opposite corner to where the boys had arrived. Tails' lips wobbled, his eyes welling up.

"Why did he storm off like that?" he asked; he sounded as though he was going to cry, not understanding the situation at all.

"I don't know" Knuckles replied with a careless shrug.

"That's your answer to anything you're asked," Shadow stated moodily, his arms folded across the patch of white fluffy fur on his chest.

"Shut it," Knuckles glared at Shadow and raised his fists threateningly.

"What did he mean, 'whoever you are'? Tails asked, glancing back towards his pink hedgehog friend. Amy, who had been staring at the corner where Sonic had disappeared, turned around, a look of deep concern over her facial features.

"We were sort of attacked by Eggman, Sonic got hurt," Amy informed them, she then burst into tears.

"He's lost his memory," she sobbed, heavily wiping her eyes, seeing no need to keep the truth from them. They'd find out sooner or later anyway. Tails put his hands to his mouth in shock, tears swelling up in his blue eyes.

"He's not much good _with_ memory," Shadow sighed with a slight mischievous grin, which contrasted his usual grumpy demeanour. Suddenly, with a loud thud, Amy's fist collided heavily with Shadow's mouth, leading the black hedgehog to fall to the ground.

"DON'T YOU DARE INSULT HIM LIKE THAT!" she shouted between sobs, pointing a shaking finger in his direction.

"You mean Sonic doesn't know anyone?" Tails asked, seeking confirmation, tears slowly running down his white, furry cheeks.

"He doesn't even know who _he _is," replied Amy sobbing loudly. Tears began flowing heavily from Tails' eyes, before they widened in horror.

"Oh no… he won't even know _where_ he is! He's out there alone and probably scared! I've got to find him!" Tails declared and spun his tails, flying over the buildings and out of sight.

"WAIT FOR ME!" Amy called and ran down the street next to the building Tails flew over. Knuckles merely glared at Shadow and smirked at the black hedgehog's swollen lip.

"Loser," he taunted and ran off after Tails and Amy.

"WAIT UP!" Shadow called furiously and ran after Knuckles.

"Since when have you been interested in Sonic when he's hurt? You'd normally just gloat!" Knuckles called back angrily; Shadow soon caught up with him.

"Er… hello, he lost his memory, I wouldn't miss this for the world," Shadow smirked.

Meanwhile Tails and Amy found themselves walking around the Mystic Ruins searching for Sonic. Amy filled Tails in on the details of Eggman's attack and what she told him.

"No wonder Sonic looked scared, and I can't believe you told him you two were engaged!" Tails exclaimed angrily, feeling resentful and furious towards his old friend.

"I didn't exactly plan to, Sonic didn't recognise me and you know I've always wanted him to marry me," Amy explained lamely.

"So you take advantage of a poor suffering hedgehog," Tails replied coldly, glaring at the pink hedgehog.

"It wasn't like that!" Amy protested. "I'm sorry…"

"And I bet it never occurred to you to mention that he was a famous hedgehog and that everyone in the city knows him," Tails found himself asking beyond his better judgement.

"Well I didn't really think…" Amy responded, sobbing.

"You don't say," Tails replied sarcastically. It was at that moment that Knuckles and Shadow ran up towards them, clearly tired, saving them from a potentially long silence.

"Found him?" Knuckles asked, gasping for breath.

"Not yet," Tails replied in a concerned manner, deciding not to waste his efforts trying to show his anger at Amy when it was clear she knew she had done wrong. 

"We have got to find him before Eggman does!" Amy declared, punching her fist into her open hand.

"Well, let's split up and see if we can find him, it's likely he won't go far, seeing as he probably doesn't know he has super speed," Tails deduced.

All four of them split up in search of Sonic the Hedgehog, praying for his safety and praying that Eggman would not turn up to make a mess of things again.


	3. Life of a hedgehog

Chapter 3

Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Shadow had been searching for Sonic for over an hour but they didn't have any luck. All four of them were still going their separate ways.

"I don't know why I'm bothering to do this," Shadow muttered to himself as he searched the beach. He wasn't really bothering searching for Sonic at all, he just lazily walked along the pier with his head flopped down, just planning on informing Amy if he came across him.

Meanwhile Amy was searching a nearby park, looking behind every tree she came across. She was just looking around a very wide tree when suddenly; Knuckles came charging out of the alleyway next to her, knocking the pink hedgehog over.

"Watch it!" Amy called out grumpily as she got up. Knuckles muttered a quick apology before asking, "Any luck?"

"Well if I had found him he would be with me wouldn't he?" Amy snapped back moodily, hastily brushing grass off the bottom of her dress. At that moment Tails flew over the tree Amy had just been looking round and he landing swiftly between them.

"I see you haven't found him either," Tails frowned.

"Oh where _is_ he?" Amy cried, stamping her foot on the ground in frustration.

"Wherever he is, he must know the place," Shadow called, suddenly appearing in a blast of orange light, emerging from a Chaos Control. All three of them jumped in fright.

"You've _got _to stop doing that," Knuckles gasped. Shadow just shrugged.

"Shadow has a point, I don't think Sonic would stick around a place he's unfamiliar with," Tails deduced, folding his arms.

"Yeah but he's lost his memory and won't know _anywhere_ around here," Knuckles pointed out.

"Hang on... I have an idea where Sonic might be!" Amy announced and suddenly dashed off. Tails and Knuckles quickly ran after her. Shadow gave a deep sigh and muttered "again?" before reluctantly following Tails and Knuckles.

Shortly, Amy, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow arrived in a small country lanes surrounded by trees.

"This was where we were attacked," Amy informed them, gesturing to the pile of tiny pieces of metal that was once Eggman's robot. Tails picked a small piece up and examined it.

"I can't believe Eggman would blow up his own robot just to hurt Sonic," Tails muttered in disgust.

"Well anyway, I think he might be here of all places seeing as this is where he lost his memory…" Amy thought out loud, rubbing her chin.

"THERE HE IS!" Knuckles suddenly shouted out, making everyone jump.

"Gee, and you complain to_ me_ for making people jump," Shadow frowned, rolling his eyes.

Sure enough, the blue hedgehog was visible standing in front of a tall tree towards the bottom of the hill, looking up at its wide branches.

"Why on earth is he staring at that tree?" Knuckles asked confused.

"Probably because that's the tree he banged his head against, but who cares? At least we've found him," Amy exclaimed and ran down the hill, grabbed Sonic around the waist sharply and hugged him which startled him to no end.

"Oh Sonic, I was so worried!" she cried. Sonic looked up to find Tails and Knuckles grinning at him while Shadow had his usually miserable expression.

"Hey you look just like me!" Sonic observed, having noticed Shadow, who gave a sarcastic clap.

"Well done Sonic, you're really smart, nothing gets past you," he replied sarcastically.

"Are you my brother?" Sonic asked, not sure which answer he preferred.

"Yeah I am," Shadow replied, still in his sarcastic mood.

"Really?" Sonic was momentarily stunned by this information.

"He's _not_ your brother, he's just winding you up," Amy informed him, before shooting a furious look at Shadow, "You're not helping, you know!"

"Well I can't see you doing any better," Shadow snapped back.

"Just go and bother someone else!" Amy shouted at him angrily.

"_Fine!_" Shadow shouted back and disappeared in his usual blast of orange light. Sonic rubbed his eyes at the sight of Shadow.

"How did he _do_ that?" he asked, stunned by Shadows sudden vanishing.

"Super speed, the stupid show off…" Amy replied, glaring at the spot Shadow was standing seconds ago.

"Wow, which I could do that…" Sonic thought aloud, with a longing look lingering on the area Shadow had just been standing in.

"You _can_ do that Sonic, it's one of the things that make you what you are," Amy replied, suddenly changing her mood to make her appear bright and happy.

"I _can?_" Sonic asked eagerly, looking at her now with shining eyes.

"Of course you can Sonic, just run to the top of the hill and back, you'll be really fast!" said Tails in a pleased tone.

Sonic ran up to the top of the hill, but a lot slower than usual. He soon returned to the others.

"See? I'm not fast at all!" Sonic complained sadly.

"You are, you've just forgotten. Why don't you try again, only this time really rev up your legs before you dash off?" Tails suggested. Sonic sighed and began running on the spot as fast as he could before disappearing in a streak of blue light. Suddenly there was a loud thud and Amy saw a distant tree wobble.

"Three guesses on what he's done," Amy sighed and she and Tails dashed after Sonic. Knuckles, who took this statement seriously, said "Well my first guess is that he hi-" before he noticed that Amy and Tails had gone. He quickly spotted them running.

"HEY WAIT FOR ME!" He called after them, tearing off after them quickly.

When they found Sonic, he was rubbing his nose, which was slightly swollen; he had clear run into the tree, but he looked perfectly cheerful and very pleased with himself.

"I think I need practice," he grinned. He glanced round at the three of them, who were all grinning in exasperation and shaking their heads. Sonic grinned back at them, then his grin dropped.

"Sorry for snapping back at you guys, it's just, I don't know any of you, I know I should, but, I don't…" Sonic confessed, unexpectedly feeling miserable.

"Look why don't we talk about it on the way back to town and we can get something to eat?" Tails suggested out of the blue.

For the next half hour, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles filled Sonic in on who they were and what Sonic's life was like.

"So... you attacked me thinking I was after your Master Emerald when it was really the Chaos Emeralds I was getting?" Sonic asked grinning as Tails filled him in on one of their old adventures.

"Did you have to tell him THAT?" Knuckles asked furiously as they entered the newsagents.

"Well he needs to know us properly," Tails replied grinning, buying a newspaper and taking pleasure in his old friend's sudden outburst.

"Well I can't help it if I'm gullible," said Knuckles angrily as they left the shop.

"Hey there's a cafe there, lets eat," Amy suggested. They all entered a small cafe and ordered.

"If only I could remember my life, it sounds very fun…" Sonic pondered thoughtfully, scanning the newspaper as they ate.

"Your memory might return some day, who knows, these things have different affects on different people," Tails shrugged, leaning back and watching Sonic thoughtfully.

"Hey, we're in the newspaper!" Sonic exclaimed who had suddenly stopped turning the pages.

"Why? What have we done now?" Knuckles asked, his interest piqued.

"Not us four, me and Amy, we're to be married remember?" said Sonic excitedly. Amy choked on her soda drink. She had completely forgotten about pretending they were engaged. She jerked the paper sharply out of Sonic's hand and began to read the small article.

_Mobius' favourite hedgehog, Sonic, is engaged to be married, we can exclusively reveal, the hedgehog, famous for his various encounters with Dr Ivo Robotnik, is to marry a pink hedgehog who goes by the name of Amy Rose. A fan of Sonic's said 'I can't believe it when I heard them discussing it; I am so pleased for him.' No date for the marriage has been announced yet._

Amy finished reading the article and looked nervously at Tails, who was glaring at her, then at Knuckles, who raised both his eyebrows at her.

"You didn't forget did you? That's one of the things that has stuck in my mind since you told me! You seem like a lovely girl and I'm glad were going to be married," Sonic declared happily, looking giddy.

Amy glanced at Tails and Knuckles then looked at Sonic nervously. "Yeah about that... the thing is… we are...well… I... err... sort of... kinda...-" she stammered, feeling frightened.

"OH FOR HEAVENS SAKE JUST _TELL_ HIM ALREADY!" Knuckles shouted out loud. The chatter in the cafe abruptly died down. Amy was more scared and nervous than ever.

"Well the thing is... I... well... _lied_ to you…" she sobbed, her lips trembling.

"About what?" Sonic asked warily, aware that every head in the cafe was looking at them.

"About us being engaged. We were never engaged, we never even dated, and you never wanted to date me. I'm so sorry," Amy confessed sobbing, she reached out her hand to place it on Sonic's but he quickly jerked it away from the table.

"We're not engaged? You _lied_ to me?" asked Sonic, seeking confirmation with a look of horror slowly dawning on his face.

"I'm_ really_ sorry," Amy replied, sobbing heavily. Sonic shot up out of his chair, his temper suddenly rising and he momentarily forgot everyone was watching them.

"HOW COULD YOU _LIE_ TO ME?" He shouted, "I HAD A_ SERIOUS _INJURY AND YOU DECIDE TO USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE! HOW_ COULD_ YOU?"

"I'm _sorry!_" Amy repeated, tears flowing from her jade green eyes. "Just let me explain I just wante-" she began slowly.

"DON'T... _TALK_ TO ME!" Sonic shouted, hurt that Amy had lied to him under the circumstances and he dashed out the door. Tails and Knuckles immediately ran after him.

"Oh Sonic… what have I done?" Amy sobbed; she buried her head in her hands, leaning on the table as she cried uncontrollably.

How would Sonic ever forgive her?


	4. Forgive and forget?

Chapter 4

A few days after the spat at the restaurant, Tails found himself dashing up to Sonic who was looking in the window of a sports shop.

"Another one," he declared handing Sonic a white envelope, smelling strongly of Amy's perfume. Amy had been constantly sending letters to Sonic all week as he continuously avoided her, still refusing to speak to her over her deceit.

"Maybe you should just talk to her…" Tails suggested, tired of acting as Amy's postman. Sonic took the letter from Tails and without opening the envelope, ripped it cleanly in two and tossed it lazily into the road behind him. Tails sighed as a dozen cars drove over it.

"I told you, I don't want to hear anything from her. I trusted her and she let me down," Sonic replied in a dark tone.

"Come on, it's been five days and you haven't even let Amy so much as _look_ at you," Tails pleaded, "I think she _has_ learnt her lesson now, she knows what she did is wrong… can't you _at least_ let her speak to you?"

"I'm sorry Tails, but I just feel so… _angry_ with her," Sonic replied, walking away from the sports shop and looked into the cafe next to it, staring gloomily at the table where they had all sat that day.

"I was so happy in there," Sonic sighed, "I may have lost my memory but I had all my friends round me. Then _she_ had to spoil it all."

Tails looked up at his best friend, who had a look of deep sorrow spread over his facial features.

"I'm sorry… I should have told you the moment I knew," said Tails guiltily, fiddling with his hands.

"Don't blame yourself," Sonic assured him, patting the fox gently on the head, "I don't blame you."

Meanwhile, not far away, Amy was pacing back and forth near a newsagent, glancing at her watch occasionally.

"Oh I hope he shows up, he's _got_ to forgive me at some point," Amy said to herself nervously, but great periods of time had passed and Sonic had not shown up.

Soon Amy gave up waiting and decided to write yet another note. She grabbed a small notebook out of her pocket and hastily scribbled a note, tears falling from her jade eyes and landing on the paper as she wrote. As soon as she finished she tucked her pen away, ripped the page off the book and just finished folding the paper in half when she saw Knuckles in the distance.

"HEY KNUCKLES!" Amy called, waving her arms in the air and hurried over to him. Knuckles slowly skidded to a halt and sighed.

"Can you please give this to Sonic?" she asked, stuffing the note into his hand before he could object. Knuckles glared at her.

"_Again?_ Amy, this is getting ridiculous!" Knuckles moaned impatiently. "He clearly isn't replying to your letters so why don't you just give it up? He'll talk to you when he's good and ready."

"It's been five days and he won't as much as _look_ at me. How am I supposed to sort this out if he won't even _speak_ to me?" Amy replied, stamping her foot on the ground. Knuckles rolled his eyes before he instantly spotted the headline on the front page of a newspaper hanging on the rack outside the newsagents which read _'Hedgehog Engagement a Fake'._

"Err… Amy, you might want to have a read of that," he said nervously gesturing to the paper.

As soon as Amy saw the headline, she dashed over to the rack and pulled the paper from it so violently that the rack tumbled over, crashing loudly on the floor. People in the street stopped to see what the noise was and Amy felt herself going red. She turned around and found Knuckles had disappeared. Sighing in disappointment, she settled herself on a bench and began to read.

On the front page under the headline was a picture of Sonic but it wasn't his usual cheery self like he normally was in papers. Instead Sonic had a look of anger and hatred etched across his face, making Amy feel even guiltier than she already did. She read the article where it had revealed that Sonic had lost his memory and how Amy had taken advantage of this.

After reading the article, Amy read it again, this time trying to see it from a stranger's point of view and found that she felt disgusted and ashamed at herself.

"I really need to talk to him," she told herself desperately.

In the meantime, Knuckles was watching Amy from a distance, around a corner out of her view.

"Hi Knuckles! What are you doing?" Tails called behind him, making Knuckles jump.

"Stop doing that!" Knuckles sighed, putting a fist on his chest, "Anyway, she gave me a note to give to Sonic. Look," he handed the folded note to Tails, who he saw had the newspaper clutched in one of his gloved hands, "Amy's reading that… did Sonic put that story in there?"

"Yeah, a couple of days ago," Tails replied in a monotone voice, "He's still angry with her and won't speak to her."

"I've had nothing but Amy whining and handing me notes every hour," Knuckles complained, slamming his left fist into his other open hand.

"I think it's about time we did something about this," Tails suggested, watching Amy crying while reading the article.

"Yeah, it's really frustrating," Knuckles replied moodily, punching the wall behind him, "If I get one more note…"

"Well, I say we get them together and leave them to sort it out whether they like it or not," Tails said, folding his arms in thought, "This needs sorting."

"What do you suggest?" Knuckles asked, not having a clue on how to solve this situation himself. Tails thought for a moment.

"Just tell Amy that Sonic will meet her on that country hill, it'll be quiet there, and she'll come running there and I'll just walk over there with Sonic and we will both make sure they stay there and sort it out," Tails informed him.

"Sounds good to me," Knuckles replied. "Where is Sonic anyway?"

"At a chilidog stand," Tails replied, grinning a little; at least Sonic's love for the chilidogs had not disappeared as his memory did. They watched Amy fold the paper and walk off.

"Let's do it then," Tails announced. He took in a deep breath and headed off to find Sonic, hoping that he could get his two friends back the way they were.

"It's a bit noisy around here… want to find somewhere quiet?" Tails asked when he eventually caught up with Sonic. 

"Suppose so," Sonic replied nonchalantly; he and Tails headed towards the hill in question. Meantime Knuckles had informed Amy of the arrangement, who eagerly dashed to the hill to await the blue hedgehog.

Shortly, Tails and Sonic arrived and the moment Sonic saw Amy he had turned around and began to walk away. Tails, however, stood firmly in his way stretching his arms out.

"You two _need_ to sort this out," he said firmly.

"I told you already, I don't want _anything_ to do with her," Sonic replied in an annoyed tone, glaring at his friend.

"Yes, I know you've told me that but I think Amy's learnt her lesson and all this avoiding is really annoying me and Knuckles so can't you _please_ just hear her out?" Tails pleaded, his blue eyes widening and his lip poking out into a persuading pout. Sonic glanced over at Amy, who hadn't yet noticed his arrival and was biting her fingers, looking tearful. Sonic eventually relented.

"Fine. She gets five minutes," he sighed, walking over to Amy while Tails walked away a short distance to leave them. He just turned the corner when he saw Knuckles peaking round a corner watching Sonic approach Amy.

"Knuckles, we're supposed to leave them to it! They won't appreciate us eavesdropping," Tails whispered angrily and dragged an irritated Knuckles away.

"SONIC!" Amy exclaimed when she spotted him approaching her; she ran up to him and threw her arms around him, crying on his shoulder.

"I'm really sorry, really truly sorry!" she sobbed. Sonic just stood there, arms folded. For a couple of minutes they just stood there, Amy crying on his shoulder and muttering apologies.

Eventually, Sonic broke his silence, "Why?"

"Oh Sonic, I just wanted you to love me!" Amy sobbed loudly, "But you never did, so when you lost your memory I just-"

"Took advantage," Sonic interrupted angrily.

"No, it wasn't _like_ that! I wasn't thinking of the consequences at the time!" Amy cried, wiping her eyes carelessly with her hand.

"You could have just told me the truth. I may not have been as happy as I was but I wouldn't have felt hurt or heartbroken," Sonic replied with a hint of sorrow.

"I wish I did! I swear Sonic, I know what I did was wrong and I've learnt my lesson! I will always be honest with you from now on!" Amy announced. Tears had slowly stopped falling from her face.

Sonic looked at her sad, blotchy face; he wasn't sure what to do, "Do you realise how much you've hurt me?"

"Of course! I read that article - that explained clearly how you felt! I wouldn't be surprised if everyone in the city hates me now, I do regret what I did and I really want to help you with your memory loss!" Amy replied desperately. Sonic could see that she was angry with herself.

"Please Sonic, forgive me?" she asked hopefully. Sonic looked at Amy long and hard; she did seem genuinely sorry and he didn't really want to lose a friend, especially considering he could only remember so very few of them. Amy then sat on her knees in front of Sonic and put her hands together.

"See, I'll even _beg_! I don't want to us to lose our great friendship! I'll never do _anything _to hurt you again, ever! I'll be happy with us being friends and I promise I won't pester you about marriage or anything like that ever again!" Amy promised.

Sonic took hold of Amy's hand and lifted her up. It was then that she noticed, for the first time in days, Sonic was smiling a little.

"I suppose I was a little harsh," he sighed and pulled Amy into a hug. "Okay, I can see that you're sorry…I'll forgive you, just promise me no more lies," said Sonic, no longer feeling resentful to his friend, but strangely, he felt a little sympathetic.

"I promise," Amy assured him. For a while they just hugged; Amy was so happy that she felt like she could just stand there for hours. They broke apart when they saw a bright flash, catching sight of Shadow taking a photo of them from a distance.

"HEY!" Amy called and they both ran after him. But Sonic still couldn't run as fast as he normally could and Shadow soon got away.

"Why that cheeky little-" growled Amy, raising her fist.

"Let's just go and tell Tails and Knuckles the news," Sonic suggested and they headed back to the main street. On the way, Amy filled Sonic in on what she was really like and all the adventures she had with him in the past.

"Wow, you must really like me to keep following me around like that," Sonic thought out loud. He was subtly pleased that a girl liked him _that_ much.

Amy blushed deeply, "Yeah, I know that I did kind of stalk you and I am sorry but as I've said, I won't pester you anymore…"

"That's okay, it's forgotten," replied Sonic, who was much happier than he was that morning.

They were just a few minutes from the city when something suddenly appeared behind them. Sonic and Amy turned round and stared in shock as a robot stood there, but this was no ordinary robot and Amy recognised it at once; the sharp grey fingers, the dark red eyes, the yellow chest, the metallic limbs…

It was none other than Metal Sonic.

"Wow, it looks just like me!" said Sonic with an air of surprise. He stepped forward to get a closer look at the robot but Amy quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"No, Sonic! Don't go near it, that's Metal Sonic!" Amy warned. Sonic thought for a second… Metal Sonic? Didn't Amy mention him? Then he remembered what Amy said to him.

"Oh yeah I remember you telling me about him; he was the one that kidnapped you years ago wasn't it?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, 1993 to be exact," Amy confirmed, sounding fearful. "Be careful… he can be very tricky."

They both stared at the robot; it stood there motionless, not moving.

"Watch out for any quick movement," Amy whispered, slightly scared.

"Welcome Sonic… I'd like you to meet your old rival," Eggman called from the cockpit of his vehicle above them, which had appeared out of nowhere.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW?" Amy yelled, both angry and scared.

"I just want to see how Sonic can face up to Metal Sonic without his memory," Eggman sneered in reply, "Especially now I've made some great modifications to him."

"What modifications? What did you do, take his batteries out?" Amy called back sarcastically, though she was secretly afraid of what Eggman had in store for her friend.

"See for yourself," replied Eggman as he pulled out a remote and pressed firmly on the buttons. Metal Sonic immediately flickered in to life, it's eyes and chest lit up and it lifted it's head so it was looking directly at the two hedgehogs. Sonic and Amy, both feeling rather frightened, took a few steps back.

"What's so different about him? He looks like the same old heap of junk to me," said Amy in a terrified tone as she grabbed hold of Sonic's arm.

"And now, here he is with his new modifications!" Eggman announced, he pressed a few more buttons on a remote, gave an evil laugh before taking off.

Sonic and Amy, holding onto each other, stared fearfully at Metal Sonic, wondering what was going to happen. At once, Metal Sonic rose his arms up in front of him; his metallic silver hands then disappeared into his metal arms and Sonic and Amy stared in horror at what came out in their place.

"OH MY GOD!" Amy cried out in horror. Sonic swore loudly, both completely stunned and afraid; they both took a dozen paces back as Amy shrieked at the top of her voice.

"HE'S GOT GUNS!"


	5. Battle of the hedgehogs

Chapter 5

For a moment nobody moved.

Metal Sonic merely stood there, the twenty guns pointing straight at the two hedgehogs, where Amy held on to Sonic's arm.

"Destroy them, dumb-bot!" Eggman called from his cockpit, shaking his fist in rage. At once hundreds of red missiles fired from Metal Sonic's guns and aimed straight for Sonic.

"Sonic!" Amy shrieked, quickly pulling on Sonic's arm, moving him out of the way just as hundreds of bullets hit the ground where he had stood seconds ago, leaving hundreds of little smoking dents in the floor. 

Sonic, although having no memory of doing it before, tried the spindash move that Amy had told him about, but Metal Sonic flew smoothly in to the air as Sonic spun towards him. As Metal Sonic landed he gave Sonic a sharp whack in the stomach with the back of his hand, sending him flying over towards Amy.

"Are you alright?" Amy yelled out concerned, running up to Sonic as he got up, rubbing his stomach. Seconds later Metal Sonic fired what looked like a grey rocket at the two hedgehogs from his yellow chest.

With a loud bang, it missed them by inches but the impact as it exploded upon hitting the concrete pavement knocked Sonic and Amy off of their feet once again.

"What are we going to do?" Sonic asked desperately, having no memory of fighting Metal Sonic before.

The guns in Metal Sonic's left arm suddenly sucked back and seconds later, huge flames burst out of it. He then pointed this at the two hedgehogs and began gliding full speed towards them.

"RUN!" Amy screamed. Sonic didn't need telling twice as he grabbed Amy's hand and ran as fast as he could, with Metal Sonic right behind them.

Sonic could feel the heat from the flames on his back as he dashed corner after corner. They were not getting any further away from the metallic hedgehog and the blue speedster was sure that the flames were getting closer.

"Sonic... we... can't... keep... running!" Amy gasped, trying to catch her breath. Sonic looked behind them. Metal Sonic was getting closer, long flames blaring out of his arm.

"Well unless you want to be cooked, I can't think of any better ideas!" Sonic shouted back, slightly deafened by the roaring sound of the flames.

Shortly they reached Mystic Ruins, where they caught sight of Tails and Knuckles who were leaning against a large tree.

"HELP US!" Sonic and Amy called to them as they approached. 

Tails and Knuckles stared in horror at the scene that greeted them and knew they had to act quickly. They got as close to the hedgehogs as they could and the second Sonic and Amy zoomed past them Knuckles delivered a heavy punch to Metal Sonic, small amounts of electricity erupted as the punch hit his right shoulder, breaking it's arm from it's body with a loud smash. The right arm then fell to the floor with a clang.

Metal Sonic didn't stop at all and carried on pursuing Sonic with bright orange flames still erupted from his left arm. While his right side now had a hole where his right arm was previously attached. Sonic, Amy and Metal Sonic soon disappeared out of Tails' and Knuckles' sight.

"Man that hurt," Knuckles moaned, shaking his hand.

"Come on! We've got to help them!" Tails announced in a determined tone and they dashed to Tails' workshop where they boarded the Tornado and took off after the hedgehogs.

Meanwhile Sonic soon realised that they couldn't outrun Metal and began to worry as he knew he had to face him. He at that point had an idea thus he began heading full speed towards a rocky wall.

"Sonic, what are you doing?" Amy yelled out, confused. Sonic ran towards the wall at high speed, with Metal Sonic still chasing them.

"WATCH OUT!" Amy shouted as Sonic was about to hit the wall but at the last second he jerked to the right, avoiding the wall and Metal Sonic, just as the blue hedgehog planned, smashed straight into the wall with a loud crash. With a loud rumble, a large amount of loose boulders from the wall tumbled down, crushing Metal Sonic until he was no longer visible beneath the rubble.

Sonic and Amy came to a halt and, gasping for breath, turned round to survey the damage. There was an eerie silence as Amy and Sonic approached the wall, half of which was burying the metallic hedgehog.

"Is he...?" Amy thought out loud.

"I'm not sure, be careful," Sonic warned. Amy whipped out her hammer from nowhere and braced herself. They got closer and closer but nothing happened; all was still and quiet.

Suddenly, without warning, a missile fired from underneath the rubble heading straight for the hedgehogs who both jumped at the sudden movement. Amy was ready and, as the missile was about to hit them, Amy whacked it with her hammer, sending it flying into a nearby tree which instantly burst into flames.

"Thanks Amy," Sonic gasped, "For a moment I thought I was toast."

"No problem! Let's stop running and face this jerk!" Amy declared confidently. Metal Sonic slowly rose from the rubble like a statue; dented, dirty, scratched but still very much still working.

"Show us what you got!" Amy taunted, her hammer raised.

Metal Sonic attempted to charge towards them but only moved an inch before falling over, one of its legs jammed under the rubble. Sonic and Amy couldn't resist laughing as it struggled to move. It gave a huge tug on its jammed leg which suddenly broke away from its body, allowing Metal to freely move.

"Can you smell burning?" Amy asked suddenly, sniffing the air.

Metal gestured behind them and the two hedgehogs stepped back in shock; the fire from the burning tree had spread and the place was burning before they're eyes.

As Sonic and Amy watched in horror as tree after tree burned, Metal Sonic took advantage of their distraction and gave a boulder an almighty kick towards them. The boulder sped towards Sonic and hit him squarely in the back of the head. Sending him flying forwards and he fell to the ground unconscious.

"SONIC!" Amy screamed, kneeling down before her blue friend and beginning to cough from the smoke.

Filled with devastation and anger, Amy turned around and, without thinking, carelessly ran towards Metal Sonic, whacking the side of his face hard with the hammer. As a result, the head flew off its body, rolled a few metres and then stopped.

The body of the robot collapsed to the floor in a heap. Amy picked up the head and screamed as she threw it in to the fire, which was now huge as it surrounded them. As smoke filled the area, Amy coughed as she got to her knees, trying to find Sonic. She could barely see through the smoke. Eventually she found him, still lying unconscious. She tried to call out to him but she could only cough as the thick smoke surrounded them, leaving her only with the option to approach him slowly.

Putting her arms around his waist, Amy tried to move him but became weak from the fire and shortly, she passed out.


	6. The rescue

Chapter 6

Totally oblivious to the danger their friends were in, Tails and Knuckles soared over the city in the Tornado, searching for their two hedgehog friends.

"Are we there yet?" Knuckles asked for the sixth time, yawning and tapping the side of the blue-coloured plane impatiently with his fist. Tails sighed.

"No, we are not there yet and I won't know when we will be, so stop asking, just keep a look out for them," Tails replied in mild irritation, getting frustrated at Knuckles' consistent questions.

After what felt like forever in flight, they spotted thick black smoke in the distance.

"Hey, look! Something's on fire!" Knuckles pointed out, his eyes narrowed in the direction of the smoke.

"How observant of you," Tails replied darkly, before he began to worry.

_Could Sonic be there?_

"Let's check it out," Tails suggested instantly, and headed in the direction of the smoke. When they arrived the smoke was so thick that they couldn't see anything; it did not help that the fire was still spreading.

"CALL 911!" Tails shouted to Knuckles over the loud sound of the flames and tossed his cell phone to Knuckles. The echidna attempted to grab the phone but failed to catch it and clumsily dropped it into the flames.

"IDIOT!" Tails shouted, banging his fist on the seat in anger. He quickly dived as close as he could to the smoke but couldn't see anything.

"I SEE THEM!" Knuckles called, a little humiliated and ashamed at dropping Tails' phone. Tails looked but couldn't see the two hedgehogs through the black smoke.

"How on earth can you _see_ them through that?" Tails asked loudly in the direction of the echidna. He turned around and saw Knuckles staring at the smoke through a pair of binoculars.

"Where did you get _that_? Tails queried curiously.

"Does that _matter_? Are we getting them out of there or what?" Knuckles yelled back impatiently; although he and Sonic had a rivalry, he didn't want anything to happen to him. He was still his friend despite that. 

"Take a deep breath," Tails instructed and, taking a deep breath himself, dived the plane into the smoke, closing his eyes as he went. He could feel the smoke and heat the moment his head made contact with it but they both took care not to breathe any of it in. Once he landed the Tornado, he got out, laid down and slowly opened his eyes.

He could just see Sonic and Amy, both lying unconscious, through the smoke. Luckily the flames had not yet reached them but the young fox knew he had to hurry. Putting one hand over his mouth he gave Knuckles a punch in the arm, slightly harder than intended, to grab his attention. He gestured towards the two hedgehogs and they both crawled towards them. The ground felt hot and Tails was glad to be wearing gloves as they reached Sonic and Amy's lifeless forms.

Upon reaching them, Knuckles stood up and carefully lifted Sonic, carrying him over his shoulder. He subsequently ran back to the plane.

"Why do you have to be so _heavy?_" he complained as he lifted the unconscious speedster into the plane. With Sonic out of harm's way, Knuckles laid down to avoid the smoke and crawled over to where Tails was attempting to drag Amy to the plane. However, the fox had very little strength in his arms so Knuckles was made to lift the pink hedgehog over his shoulders and carry her back to the plane while Tails, coughing, dashed back to the plane to start the engines.

Soon, Amy was in the back of the plane, next to the unconscious blue hedgehog and once Knuckles was seated next to her, Tails turned on the ignition.

The plane wouldn't start.

"Oh no!" Tails panicked, trying to get the plane to start in desperation, "Not now!"

Suddenly, a couple of flaming trees crashed to the ground near them with a loud thud.

"HURRY!" Knuckles called, feeling a little frightened though he would never admit it, as the fire began spreading towards them.

"I'M TRYING!" Tails called back as he continued to turn the ignition key.

But the plane still wouldn't start.

"Come on!" Tails shouted, feeling scared and a little frightened as well. As more trees crashed to the ground, the young fox began to cry, fearing they wouldn't get out.

"Please work!" he cried desperately. The plane then flickered into life, its propellers spinning noisily at great speed. Breathing a sigh of relief, Tails steered the plane upwards until they were out of the smoke. Breathing in the fresh air, and steering the plane far from the fire, the fox directed the vehicle to a quiet, peaceful area of the forest not yet taken by the flames, and made a quick landing.

"We need to get them out," Tails informed Knuckles as he carefully dragged Amy out from one side of the plane and laid her gently on the soft green grass. Knuckles jumped out the vehicle, lifted Sonic out and laid him on the grass next to the unresponsive form of the pink hedgehog. Even though they were quite far from the fire, they could still see the smoke in the bright blue sky.

"We need to get an ambulance and fire brigade," Tails declared, before he remembered that Knuckles had dropped his phone.

"Hey, Sonic's got a phone!" Knuckles pointed out, gesturing at the blue hedgehog, where a small black phone was just visible underneath his quills. 

Tails removed it from his pocket and began dialling in a hurry.

"I hope he's got credit on this thing," Tails sighed and turned his back to Knuckles as he called the emergency services.

Knuckles stared at the unmoving hedgehogs, wondering if they were going to make it. He felt useless standing there but couldn't think of anything he could do. He stared at Amy, who looked like she was merely asleep, before an idea came to him.

He cringed a little as he thought about it, knowing he wouldn't like doing it but he felt it was the only thing he could do. Kneeling next to Amy, he gave a long heavy sigh. He turned around to make sure that Tails wasn't looking, but the young fox was facing the opposite direction, in a conversation with the emergency services, sounding incredibly distressed.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered to himself. He leaned closer to Amy; he could smell her chocolate-scented breath. He instantly began giving her mouth to mouth, trying to get her to wake in desperation. Shortly, Tails finished his call and tucked Sonic's phone in his tails.

"Okay Knuckles, they'll be here in-" he began but stopped dead when he saw Knuckles trying to resuscitate Amy. His blue eyes widened, the fox stared in shock, hardly daring to believe what he was seeing.

Unexpectedly, Amy gave a loud cough. Knuckles jumped back in alarm.

"EW!" He exclaimed loudly, wiping his mouth, almost as if he had only just registered what he had been doing.

"Well done Knuckles! Never knew you had it in you," Tails smiled, impressed at his echidna friend.

"Never… again…" Knuckles stammered as Amy gave another few coughs and began to open her jade green eyes.

"Are you alright Amy?" Tails asked in concern as he slowly helped her sit up.

"I think so," Amy replied quietly in a hoarse voice, still a bit dazed. "What happened?" she asked, coughing and spluttering again.

"There was this fire… you and Sonic was there," Tails replied, unsure of what to say.

"Yeah, and we rescued you," Knuckles added proudly, thumping his fist against his chest.

"Fire?"

Everything was a blur to Amy. She glanced at Sonic, still lying unconscious beside her. In that instant, she remembered and burst into tears.

"Oh no, the fire! It's all my fault!" Amy cried, coughing and covering her eyes with her hands.

"How is it?" Knuckles asked, confused as always.

"I accidentally started the fire! Metal Sonic shot this thing at us and I hit it into a tree and that's what caused it!" Amy confessed tearfully, still hiding her face behind her gloved hands.

"If Metal Sonic shot something at you then you hit it to save yourself. It is _his_ fault not yours," Tails said, comforting his friend. He had momentarily forgotten everything that happened before the fire.

"Metal knocked Sonic out with a boulder," Amy recalled; she turned Sonic's head so Tails could see a large purple bruise on the back of Sonic's head; one of his quills was bent at an odd angle. Tails gave a little gasp.

"That's got to hurt… I hope he'll be alright," he said, scared for his friend.

"How did we get out?" Amy asked, giving another loud cough.

"The Tornado," Tails replied, gesturing to the plane sitting against a tree, "and Knucklesgave you mouth to mouth," he added, gesturing at the red echidna. The guardian merely glared at him. Amy stared at him in awe.

"You did?" Amy asked feeling slightly revolted, surprised and grateful all at the same time.

"Yeah, but don't _ever_ mention it," Knuckles muttered quickly.

"You may have saved her life; she's hardly going to forget it!" Tails remarked in reply, forcing a small grin onto his face. Amy gave Knuckles a small hug around the waist.

"Thanks," she mumbled quietly, before she violently coughed again.

"As I said, don't mention it," Knuckles sighed. They could hear sirens in the distance.

"The ambulance is here!" Tails exclaimed. Sure enough, a large white ambulance appeared from a corner; it stopped next to Knuckles and two black and white cats in paramedic outfits came out.

"What happened?" one of them asked in an urgent tone.

"There was a fire," Tails informed them, pointing to the smoke that was still visible.

"Yeah, we've got fire crew attending to it," the cat replied, waving his hand nonchalantly.

"They were both in the fire, they were unconscious, and Knuckles here gave _her_ mouth-to-mouth," Tails added, pointing from the echidna to the pink hedgehog. Knuckles cringed.

"She said Sonic was knocked out by something," he finished, gesturing to the bruise that was visible on Sonic's head.

Amy was in conversation with the other cat, who told her to sit in the ambulance. As she did so, the two paramedics brought out a stretcher, and lifted Sonic on to it. They wheeled the stretcher into the back of the ambulance. Tails and Knuckles took two seats opposite Amy as one of the paramedics got in the back and closed the door. The sirens sounded as the vehicle took off.

All three of Sonic's friends stared mournfully at the blue speedster. Amy held one of his lifeless hands and Tails gently took the other; both of them were crying a little.

"Is he going to be alright? Amy asked tearfully, glancing towards one of the paramedics desperately.

"We don't know at this stage," the cat admitted, looking solemn.

"I sure hope so," Tails replied.

None of them wanted anything to happen to their best friend.


	7. Will he survive?

Chapter 7

The ambulance soon arrived at the hospital. The driver immediately got out and helped the other nurse wheel the stretcher containing Sonic into the hospital with his friends right behind them, Tails informing the nurses of what had happened. After going up a lift the nurses soon wheeled Sonic in to a vacant room. Other nurses appeared from other rooms to help them move Sonic onto the bed. The driver then took Amy, Tails and Knuckles outside the room.

"We need you to wait out here for a bit while we sort him out," he informed them and promptly closed the door.

"What are they doing in there?" Amy asked tearfully, peering through the circular window.

"Just leave them to it Amy," Tails silently sobbed, a few tears running down his cheeks. Amy sighed and occupied the seat next to Knuckles.

"What's taking so long?" she cried impatiently, biting the nails on her right hand.

"I don't know… but I _hope_ he'll be okay," Tails replied nervously.

After a few minutes the doctors left. One of them approached Amy.

"Can we see him?" Amy asked quickly.

"Of course, but we want to give you a quick check over for burns and smoke inhalation," he replied in a serious tone.

"Will he be okay?" she asked, dismissing the doctor's request.

"I'm afraid we won't know at this stage, he has inhaled a lot of smoke and has sustained some nasty injuries to the head," he informed them.

"I want to see him," Amy said instantly and made for the door. Tails quickly pulled her back.

"Amy, you were unconscious too, the doctor really _should _check you over," he mumbled in a concerned manner. His best friend was already injured; he didn't want a second friend to become ill as well.

"But I want to see _Sonic!_" Amy cried impatiently, trying to release herself from Tails' grip.

"Please, it'll only take a few minutes… Knuckles and I will be with Sonic," Tails insisted. Amy looked at the fox and saw the deep concern in his facial features.

"Oh_ alright_, but make it quick," she sighed and moaned to herself as the doctor led her around a corner out of sight. Tails and Knuckles entered the room and sat on the chairs on the left side of the bed.

Sonic was still lying unconscious in his white hospital bed, his two bruises now covered by thin, white pads. There were burns all over his body, which were various shades of red underneath the blue fur. There were also some minor cuts along his left arm.

"Poor guy," Tails sobbed, tears flowing heavily from his eyes as he watched his old friend. It looked as though he were merely sleeping.

"He'll be fine," Knuckles responded, although he didn't sound reassured. Although he wasn't tearful, he had a pure look of sadness. He put his arm round Tails and pulled him in to a comforting hug. "He's a tough guy."

Half an hour later Amy burst into the room and soon cried at the sight of Sonic. About six tubes were connecting the blue hedgehog to various devices. An oxygen mask was covering his nose and mouth. Amy didn't know or care what any of these devices were. All she knew was that a screen was indicating a normal heartbeat and as long as it continued beeping, she knew he was alive.

"What did the doctor say?" Tails asked with concern in his voice.

"Said I'll be fine," Amy replied quickly and sat down in the last unoccupied chair on the other side of the bed.

For an hour nobody moved or spoke; they all sat gloomily looking at Sonic, hoping he would survive. Eventually Knuckles broke the silence.

"I'll go and get something to eat," he informed them and left in what seemed like a hurry.

"Do you think we should inform anyone else?" Amy asked. Tails looked up at his friend's blotchy face.

"No, I don't think we should worry them," he replied; he knew that Cream would be easily upset by the situation, Shadow would probably take pleasure in it and Rouge would not want to be interrupted from her jewel hunting.

Shortly, Knuckles returned with some crisps and handed a packet to Tails and Amy.

"Thanks," they both replied in unison. After quickly eating they resumed their silence, nobody really felt in the mood for talking. Soon the room grew darker.

Shortly, Knuckles spoke. "I better get going. The Master Emerald needs guarding, especially at night. I'll be back first thing tomorrow."

Tails and Amy gave a casual wave to Knuckles as he left.

"I'm not leaving his side," proclaimed Amy, not wanting to leave her hero in his time of need. Tails nodded in agreement.

'He may make some progress tomorrow,' Tails thought. He yawned and sat back in his chair.

"I hope so… I'll _never_ forgive myself if anything happens to him!" Amy replied in a worried tone. She glanced up at the young fox whose eyes were shut, and small amount of drool was seeping out the side of his mouth which told her that Tails had fallen asleep.

Amy leant forward and planted a kiss on Sonic's forehead.

"Get well soon," she whispered quietly and she lay back in her chair, shortly falling asleep herself.

XXX

The next morning Amy quickly woke up, having slept uncomfortably in the chair besides the blue hedgehog's bed. She glanced around and, noticing that it was quite dark, deduced that it was very early. Yawning, she sat herself up and glanced at Sonic mournfully.

Amy tried to sleep again but she was consumed with worry and guilt. She was convinced the whole situation was her fault as she had caused the fire and had often wished she was in Sonic's position. The doctors did not have any good or negative news about Sonic's condition and Amy wished that they would make some progress soon. She, however, found herself glad that Sonic had a hospital room to himself because she didn't want any fans mollycoddling him.

Wiping her blotchy eyes she gave up on sleeping; she instead slowly stood up and walked over to the window on the opposite side of the bed. She leant on the window-sill and watched the sun slowly rising over the large car park which was practically empty. It was completely silent except for the frequent beeps from Sonic's heart monitor. Tails was quietly sleeping in a chair next to her. She lifted up his arm so she could see the time on his watch, having somehow misplaced hers. It was four in the morning.

Giving a deep sigh she sat on the edge of Sonic's bed and held his hand, tears filling her jade eyes again.

"Please wake up," she sobbed, knowing it would not help. She stroked one of his quills gently, staring upon the closed eyes that she wished would open. She lay on the bed next to him, putting one arm round Sonic's chest and sobbed quietly into his peach shoulder.

"He'll wake up soon enough," Tails groaned unexpectedly from his seat, startling Amy, who had momentarily forgotten he was there.

"How can you be so sure?" Amy asked, getting off the bed and sitting back in the chair. Tails frowned.

"I'm not… we've just got to hope for the best," Tails admitted, trying to keep Amy calm. He didn't want her worked up again.

"I just wish _something_ would happen!" Amy cried, banging the arm of the chair with her gloved hand.

"I'm sure he'll be fine… we've just got to have a little patience," Tail's replied in a worried tone. He had a feeling Amy would end up breaking something if she became too stressed.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so worried!" said Amy tearfully.

"I know," Tails replied sadly. "We all are."

XXX

A few hours later a nurse walked briskly through the door carrying a clipboard. She examined the various devices Sonic was attached to and quickly scribbled some notes.

"Is he making any progress?" Amy asked hopefully, although she already knew what the answer was.

"Not yet," the nurse replied, just as Amy expected.

"Isn't there _anything_ you can do?" Amy asked, desperate for Sonic to return to his old self.

"We can't do anything until he makes progress. We've done everything we can, it's up to him now," The nurse replied and she left. Amy sighed.

"Come on Sonic, do_ something!_" Amy cried desperately.

Sonic suddenly and unexpectedly began fitting violently, shaking uncontrollably. The heart monitors beeps suddenly became more rapid.

"What's happening?" Amy asked, suddenly panicking. Tails shot out of his chair.

"He's having a fit!" he announced urgently, tears flowing from his eyes; he ran for the door.

"NURSE!" Amy screamed, she dashed for the door, shoving Tails out the way as she did so.

"_NURSE!_" she screamed at the top of her voice, tears splashing down her face.

As a nurse approached Amy screamed, "THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH SONIC!"

The nurse raced into the room, took once glance at Sonic who had stopped fitting, but the heart monitor had suddenly flat lined. The nurse immediately dashed out the room.

"Quick we need the resus unit in here _NOW!_" she commanded urgently to the other nurses.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?" Amy cried, watching helplessly as the nurses wheeled in some sort of device which she prayed would help Sonic. As the nurses quickly entered the room, one of the nurses told Amy and Tails to wait outside. Amy and Tails cried into each other's arms as the nurses battled to save Sonic's life.


	8. Life or Death

Chapter 8

As Tails and Amy sobbed into each others arms, Knuckles suddenly sped around the corner. He skidded to a halt besides Tails and Amy, and instantly knew that something was wrong.

"What have I missed?" he asked in a concerned manner.

"He… he… I… I think… he's-" Amy stammered through her crying, unable to get the words out.

"Dead," Tails finished the sentence for her, tears heavily streaming down his white muzzle.

"_What?_" Knuckles stared, taken aback by this information. He ran to the door and peered through the circular window; he could not see Sonic, only the nurses surrounding him, "He can't be. He's _not _dead is he?"

Both Amy and Tails were stunned to see a tear roll down the side of Knuckles' cheek.

"I don't know," Amy sobbed; in that instant she and Tails began to sob on the echidna's shoulders. He rubbed their backs gently and silently prayed that Sonic didn't die. After a few minutes Sonic's three closest friends found themselves sitting on some of the seats opposite the door.

"Oh please be alright! I'll never forgive myself!" Amy pleaded, wiping her tear-stained eyes heavily with a pink handkerchief. Tails sat biting his glove-covered fingers nervously, feeling terribly guilty for not getting him out of the fire in time.

"I don't know what I'll do if he… he… he-" the young fox cried; he couldn't bring himself to say the last word.

"Look nothing's actually been, well, _confirmed _yet; let's just try and stay positive," said Knuckles sadly; he held Tails and Amy's hands as all they could do was sit and wait.

"I feel so helpless!" Amy cried restlessly.

"We all do but there's nothing _we _can do. We just got to let the nurses do their jobs…" Tails replied, wiping his blotchy eyes with the back of his gloved hand that wasn't held by Knuckles.

Suddenly a nurse came out of the room backwards. The three friends stood up in an instant as the nurses were wheeling Sonic and his bed out the room and down the corridor at a fast pace. 

"What's going on? Where are you taking him?" Amy asked instantly in wild panic. One of the nurses quickly stopped and spoke to them.

"He needs emergency surgery, we're taking him down to theatre; you wait here," she informed them before she quickly ran after the other nurses.

"_Emergency surgery?_" Amy thought, the words echoing in her mind.

"They're going to save him, I just know it!" proclaimed Tails encouragingly. He had ceased crying and became very confident that his best friend would be saved. He simply _had _to be.

"I sure hope so," Amy replied weakly, she had stopped crying but tears were still slowly rolling down her cheek.

"Let's just grab a bite while we wait," Knuckles suggested; anything to break the tension.

"Fine," Amy replied not listening to what he had said. An image of Sonic undergoing surgery was running through her mind. She snapped out of her thoughts when Tails grabbed her shoulder.

"They'll save him. I know they will…" he said weakly, almost as if he were willing himself to believe it as much as he was her. Amy nodded and followed the boys to the hospital cafe.

xxx

An hour later they arrived outside the theatre room. The same nurse that spoke to them before emerged from the room and began walking briskly towards them. As soon as she approached them they glanced at the nurse expectantly, waiting to hear Sonic's fate.

"He's a very lucky hedgehog," The nurse announced with a little smile. 

"Does that mean…?" Amy asked hopefully.

"Yes, he is going to be fine," the nurse confirmed. Amy immediately burst into tears of happiness and threw her arms around the nurse.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Amy repeated, thoroughly relieved. Knuckles gave a deep sigh of relief.

"Just doing my job," the nurse replied with a smile, gently pushing Amy away. Tails stood forward, unable to stop grinning with joy and shook the nurse's hand.

"Thank you," he said tearfully, "you don't know how much this means to us."

"It's a pleasure," the nurse replied, relieved that Tails did not jump on her.

The fox glanced around quickly and whispered to the nurse in a hopeful tone of voice, "Look, he lost his memory before he was knocked out in the fire and brought here, do you know if there's any chance it might return?"

"I'm afraid I can't say," the nurse admitted, "But he will be fine, just a few cuts, bruises and burns that will heal over time." There was a minute of silence before the nurse announced, "We just need to clean him up a bit then take him back to his room and you'll be free to see him."

"We'll wait for him there then," Tails suggested. The nurse nodded and disappeared. Tails walked back to where Knuckles and Amy were sitting. The pink hedgehog seemed to be in deep thought.

"He's going to be fine… he's going to be _fine_…" she whispered to herself with a huge grin.

"Yeah, he will," Tails replied, equally grinning. Amy suddenly let out a loud cheer and unexpectedly hugged Tails.

"He's going to _live!_" Amy shouted out loud.

"Everything's going to be alright," Tails replied; both friends' eyes filled with tears of relief and happiness. Knuckles grinned to himself, Tails knew that he was never one to express his emotion and knew he was just as happy as they were to have Sonic alive, whether he showed it or not.

"The nurses said they are going to bring Sonic back to the other room so I told them we'll wait for them there," Tails informed his friends.

"Good idea," Amy replied and the three of them made their way back to the other room. As they walked down the corridor Amy ran ahead of them and suddenly jumped up and punched the air with her fist, shouting "YES!" as she did so. Tails and Knuckles laughed, both amused.

"She really is happy to have him back isn't she?" Knuckles chuckled.

"Yeah… and she's not the only one," Tails replied, a huge grin plastered on his face.

They soon approached the room and waited in the seats opposite for the blue speedster to arrive.

"I'll go and get us a drink," Amy suggested in a much more cheerful mood and headed into the nearby lift.

"I think she's going to be in a good mood for a long time," Knuckles thought out loud, clearly amused.

"That depends on what condition Sonic's in when he wakes," Tails replied; there was no telling what state Sonic's memory was in.

Shortly nurses emerged round the corner, wheeling Sonic along with them.

"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed and jumped out of his seat as they wheeled Sonic into the room. As they passed Tails and entered the room, the young fox was sure he witnessed his best friend move his head slowly. As the nurses shut the door on Tails to set up the monitors, he walked back to Knuckles.

"I swear I just saw him move," Tails informed Knuckles, "could he be waking up?"

"Maybe we should get Amy," Knuckles suggested, knowing that Amy would want to be around when he wakes.

"I don't know, having too many people around him might startle him," Tails replied. However he didn't need to make a choice as at that moment the elevator bell rang and the doors slid open as Amy emerged out of it, carrying three juice drinks.

"I think Sonic's waking up," Knuckles said instantly.

"_Really?_" Amy exclaimed excitedly, handing Knuckles his drink a little more forcefully than intended. She dashed to the door, shoving Tails' drink into his hands as she did so. She looked through the window but couldn't see Sonic due to all the nurses surrounding him.

"We don't know that, I just told Knuckles that I think I saw him move his head," Tails informed her, giving Knuckles an annoyed look. Amy sighed and sat down in a slumped position. They all sat there for a few minutes, drinking and waiting. After about ten minutes the nurses emerged from the room and all went different ways. One of them approached the trio.

"Is he waking up?" Amy asked eagerly.

"He's beginning to stir, I must ask you not to smother him as he'll be very weak," the nurse warned and left as abruptly as she had arrived. Discarding her drink carton, Amy immediately ran in to the room and grabbed Sonic's hand.

"Amy, remember what the nurse said!" Tails warned her as he and Knuckles entered, standing at the side of the bed opposite Amy and taking hold of Sonic's other hand.

"He feels so warm," Amy observed, holding Sonic's hand tightly.

The blue hedgehog suddenly groaned, turning his head.

"Sonic?" Amy called. "Sonic, can you hear me?"

Sonic groaned again and turned his head so that he was facing Tails and Knuckles, then faced the ceiling. He opened his eyes halfway before he closed them again.

"He _is_ waking up!" Amy exclaimed loudly as Sonic opened his eyes fully before closing them again.

"Ssshhhh…" Tails whispered, putting a finger to his lips, "Don't startle him."

Sonic opened his eyes a third time.

"Where am I?" he asked quietly.

"You're in hospital. You… err… had a bit of an accident," Tails informed him wearily, unsure of how to describe the incident.

"My head hurts," he complained, rubbing the back of his spiky head with a gloved hand.

"The nurses said you'll heal over time," Tails informed him, glad that his friend was making progress. Sonic slowly sat up, taking in his surroundings.

"What happened?" he asked, sounding a lot more like his usual self.

"Well, it's a long story," Tails replied, rubbing his bangs.

"I need a drink," Sonic suddenly requested.

"I'll get you some!" Amy volunteered eagerly. She noticed there were no cups and quickly left to get some. Tails found himself asking the question he'd been dreading to ask.

"Er Sonic, what do you remember?" he asked nervously, not sure if he wanted to know the answer… but he _had_ to know what condition his friend's memory was in.

Sonic looked thoughtful.

"Well… I remember getting hit in the head after running from something," Sonic replied.

"Metal Sonic," Tails muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"N-Nothing," Tails replied quickly. He tried to find the courage to ask him if he knew them, but was too scared of hearing a negative answer. Sonic glanced at Knuckles who was standing there with a small grin on his face.

"Hey Knuckles, you're quiet. Has the Master Emerald gone missing or something?" Sonic asked cheekily. Tails and Knuckles grins suddenly widened.

"You _remember_ us?" Tails asked. Sonic nodded with a grin.

"That's not all. Did you know that when you told me about my life you missed out the part where I was killed by Mephiles?" he remarked, his cheeky smirk widening.

"You remember _everything_?" Tails asked, delighted and a little surprised.

"Everything," Sonic confirmed, "Until I got knocked out in that fire that is."

Tails burst in to tears of joy and hugged his best friend, "I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, buddy," Sonic replied and hugged him back.

"Err… good to have you back," said Knuckles sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in a manner that suggested awkwardness. Sonic winked at him.

"Hey, don't tell Amy, I want to test something," he informed them, just before the pink hedgehog walked in with a small stack of cups.

"How are you Sonic?" she asked eagerly, stacking the cups and pouring water into each one.

"I'm alright under the circumstances… and who might you be?" Sonic asked, faking memory loss.

"You don't remember me?" Amy asked, her worst fear supposedly confirmed. The look on her face turned to a look of horror.

"Sorry… I don't remember anything," Sonic gave an apologetic shake of the head as Tails and Knuckles tried to hide their grins, "so who are you?"

"I'm Amy Rose, a close friend of yours," the pink hedgehog answered, discovering that tears were prickling in the corners of her eyes; she had only just made up with Sonic and now he'd forgotten her.

"How close?" Sonic asked, waiting to see if she told the truth this time.

"Just friends who hang out a lot, nothing more than that," Amy replied, wiping her eyes hastily; she _couldn't_ let him see her crying.

"I really _have_ learnt your lesson, haven't you?" Sonic remarked, impressed, "Last time you told me we were engaged."

Amy looked at Sonic, confused, before it hit her.

"You _do _remember?"

"Yeah, I remember everything. Sorry, I just wanted to see if you were going to be honest with me," Sonic confessed sheepishly, trying to avoid her gaze.

"Oh, _Sonic!_" Amy squealed in delight, throwing her arms around him. "I'm so glad that you're back to your old self!" 

The four of them all sat there, merely grinning at each other.

"Once I'm out of here, there's one thing I've got to do," Sonic announced suddenly, breaking the blissful silence.

"What's that?" Tails asked, feeling happy that his friend had returned. Sonic sent him a quizzical look.

"Isn't that obvious?" he asked. When Tails shook his head he revealed "Do you really think I'm going to let Eggman get away all this? He made me lose my memory, Metal Sonic almost killed me and you expect me to just let him get away?"

"Ah." Tails gave him a knowing look.

"You're not going to do anything _stupid_, are you?" Amy asked concerned.

Sonic shook his head, "I'm not going to do anything stupid, but I _am_ going to make Eggman pay for what he's done."


	9. Sonic's revenge

Chapter 9

Sonic was discharged from hospital a week later, still intent on carrying out his threat to make Eggman pay for his actions.

"It could be dangerous," Tails warned him for the umpteenth time. However, his warnings had little effect on the blue hedgehog as they quietly left the hospital with Amy. Knuckles had already left to do his daily guarding of the Master Emerald.

"I'm _not_ going to let him get away with what he has done," Sonic replied in a determined tone. Tails sighed in exasperation.

"Well then _at least_ let us come with you," Tails suggested in a concerned manner. After all, his best friend had just recovered and almost died, he didn't want Sonic hurt again.

In response to Tails' suggestion, Sonic shrugged. The fox assumed this gesture had meant 'I don't care' and decided to tag along with his friend when the time came.

"We want to be there in case you get in to any trouble… after all you're probably still a bit weak," Amy announced. Sonic was touched by his friends' caring attitude.

"Well then… there's no time like the present!" he announced eagerly and sped down the street in a streak of blue light with Tails and Amy right behind him.

They shortly arrived at Eggman's fortress. Sonic skidded to a halt right in front of the large red door and stared at it thoughtfully. Tails and Amy appeared behind him gasping for breath.

"So what exactly are you planning to do?" Amy asked, breathing heavily.

"Don't know," Sonic confessed. He suddenly realised that while he wanted to get revenge on Eggman, he had no idea on how to do it. He decided to just go in and use whatever was there thus walked briskly towards the door. Tails quickly grabbed one of Sonic's undamaged quills and pulled him back.

"We can't just walk straight in there!" Tails squeaked loudly.

"Why not? What's the _worst _he could do?" Sonic asked with a cheeky grin. 

"Let's see," said Tails in mock puzzlement, "He _could _use a giant robot to knock you out and make you lose your memory?"

"In his own fortress?" Sonic replied, raising an eyebrow. Tails sighed, reluctantly spun his tails and flew round the corner and peered through each of the square windows. He quickly came across Eggman.

"He's in a room at the back on the upper floor," he informed his friends as he landed neatly besides them.

Sonic thanked him and turned to Amy, who was now holding her large hammer.

"How do you make that thing appear from nowhere?" he asked, a little impressed.

"A girl never reveals her secrets," Amy replied, winking at him.

"How exactly do you plan on getting in?" Tails asked nervously, uncertain if they were doing the right thing. As he asked this, chatter came from inside and the door slowly opened.

"Quick!" Sonic whispered, taking Amy and Tails' arms, dashing to the corner and hid as Decoe and Bocoe emerged from the door.

"I'm telling you, if you we don't get the right stuff this time we'll be scrap metal!" Bocoe complained as they headed down a hill and out of sight.

"Hey they left the door open," Amy observed.

"I knew those robots would do something useful one day," Sonic grinned as they quickly made their way to the door and went inside.

They were standing in a small hall with metal walls, various doors and an elevator.

"Where exactly do we go?" Amy asked, looking at the various doors in confusion.

"Let's just look in here," Sonic suggested, pointing sharply at the silver door nearest to him. He gave it a slight push and it creaked loudly as it opened.

"Doesn't have much security here, does he?" Tails thought as the three of them entered the room.

It was a tall, fairly thin room with metal walls and various devices and consoles scattered around the room with various sounds and lights emitting from them. A window covered half of the right wall.

"Don't touch anything, we have no idea what _any_ of these things do," Tails warned, looking suspiciously at the different contraptions.

The boys subsequently heard a small scream as Amy staggered backwards into them.

"What is it?" Sonic asked urgently. Amy didn't speak as she gestured to something behind them. Sonic and Tails turned around quickly; the blue hedgehog stepped back in alarm and gasped as he found himself in front of a familiar silver metal robot. It was twenty foot tall, had sharp silver claws, big blue eyes, razor-sharp teeth and a long ginger moustache.

"Isn't that…?" Sonic thought out loud, recognising it.

"It's that robot that caused all this!" said Amy angrily.

"Or a copy of it, it can't be the same one," Tails contemplated.

"Yeah, because Eggman blew _that _one up, taking Sonic with it," Amy added with a hint of fury.

"It's just like the original, it probably works the same way too," Tails deduced fearfully.

"Which means…_this_ one could explode too," Sonic concluded with a smirk. He then began rummaging through some nearby filing cabinets.

"What are you doing?" Tails asked, concerned about what Sonic had in mind.

"Well Eggman clearly destroyed that robot by remote. Which means this one is likely set to explode by remote, and that's what I'm looking for," Sonic explained, closing the top cabinet and opening the one below it.

"Just be careful," said Tails in a concerned manner; he wanted Eggman to pay as much as Sonic did but didn't want anyone hurt in the process. He quickly began looking inside a pile of cardboard boxes lying in the corner for any remote. Amy also joined in the hunt, looking across a series of shelves on the other end of the room.

"Is this it?" she called after a few minutes, revealing a small grey remote with a single yellow button in the centre. She tossed it to Tails who examined it, his blue eyes shifting between the remote and the robot. He didn't have much time however as a loud buzzing sound suddenly rang and a huge red light flashed across the room.

_INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!_

"Guess I was wrong about the security!" Tails shouted over the noise.

"We'll just have to take that!" Amy screamed.

"Let's get out of here," Sonic bellowed as he took their arms and dashed out the room and as the main door began automatically closing, Sonic narrowly got through the gap and ran from the fortress as fast as he could. He didn't stop until it was out of sight. They sat behind a large tree.

"That was close…" Amy gasped.

"Do you think this is the right one?" Tails asked, gesturing to the remote in his hand.

"You tell me, you're the expert," Sonic replied, a little breathless.

"I didn't get a proper chance to check the robot out, all I know is that it definitely operates something in there," said Tails, gesturing to a label on the back of the remote that read _'Property of Dr Ivo Robotnik.'_

"Well I guess there is only one way to find out," Sonic grinned; he took the remote from Tails and headed closer towards the fortress so that it was in view.

"He will likely be investigating the source of the disturbance," Tails informed him. He and Amy watched in anticipation as Sonic held a gloved finger over the remote.

"Which window is it?" he asked, not wanting to miss anything. Tails gestured to the third window from the door.

"What goes around comes around, Eggman," Sonic taunted and the three of them held their breath as Sonic pushed the button firmly.

For a few seconds nothing happened.

A loud bang suddenly sounded from the fortress as the window and part of the wall surrounding it collapsed. The three of them cheered as they watched smoke drift out of the hole.

"I'm not done yet," Sonic announced with a satisfied grin. He stood up and headed towards the fortress.

"_Now_ what is he doing?" Amy asked. Tails shrugged as they followed him.

Sonic approached the hole where the room was. Everything inside was smouldering, broken and in pieces. Sonic spotted Eggman staring at the wreckage, his moustache slightly singed.

"My machines, my beautiful machines," he whimpered.

"Something wrong?" Sonic asked sarcastically.

"YOU! Do you realise what you've done? This will cost a fortune to repair!" said Eggman angrily. Sonic shrugged.

"Not nice the other way round is it?" Sonic taunted, taking great pleasure in Eggman's misery. He then dropped the remote on to the floor and stamped on it hard, smashing it.

"This belongs to you," he said as he picked up the damaged remote and tossed it to Eggman who stared mournfully at the mess.

"See you around," he announced with a grin as he left with his friends.

"Nice one Sonic!" Amy cheered, giving Sonic a high five.

"I don't think he'll be bothering us for a while," Tails remarked with a smile.

XXX

The next day Amy approached Sonic in the park, brandishing a red envelope.

"Hi Sonic, how are you?" she asked very quickly.

"I'm great," Sonic replied; he felt very satisfied with his revenge on Eggman.

"Do you know what the date is?" she queried, looking at him with wide expectant eyes. Sonic shrugged with clear lack of knowledge.

"It's February the fourteenth," she exclaimed excitedly.

"So?" Sonic shrugged, wondering what Amy was getting at.

"So… it's Valentines Day!" she squealed in a high pitched voice. Sonic smacked his head; how could he forget?

"So I've got you this," she announced bashfully as she handed him the red envelope.

"You didn't have to," Sonic replied with a smile as he took the envelope. He ripped open the envelope, took out a Valentine's card and looked briefly at the front picture of, typically, two hedgehogs surrounded by love hearts. He then opened the card and read the message inside aloud.

_To Sonic,  
I am so glad that you survived. I love you very much and I don't know what I would do without you. Although I now realise that the feeling isn't mutual I know that you care and I hope that we can be friends for a long time. Happy Valentine's Day!  
Love from Amy._

"Thanks Amy," said Sonic; for the first time ever, he gave her a hug.

"You're welcome," Amy replied, hugging him back, "And don't worry, I've _definitely_ learnt my lesson - never try and force someone in to doing something they don't want to do."

"Don't worry, it's forgotten," Sonic replied, though he was relieved nonetheless.

"I think Eggman has also learnt an important lesson too," Amy grinned as they walked across the soft grass.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Never mess with Sonic the Hedgehog."

**THE END**


End file.
